FFXIII-2 One-Shots
by WinterDrake
Summary: Collection of short fics I wrote some time ago. Will contain both canon and AU pieces.
1. Daughter

**Daughter**

Paddra Nsu-Yeul gazed at the twinkling stars as she waited for what she knew would happen. The beautiful Pulsian night would witness the outcome of Yeul's decision of walking away from her home towards the plains of Gran Pulse. The thirteen year old knew that she would not return to her village tonight because of a vision she had a few days ago. Today was the day that her life ended.

A once kind and compassionate man, angry and believing the young Seeress was the cause of the monster attack on his city that killed his daughter, had traveled to her village and stalked her as she left. His heart was heavy with hate as he held his weapon out, ready to strike at the girl he did not consider human. Yeul knew he was creeping closer as she distracted herself with the stars. The Seeress had received excruciatingly painful visions of the attack on the man's city and a villager had been dispatched to warn them. Thanks to her, the city's people had fared better than they would have without the warning. Many had died but the death toll was lower than it could have been.

The city's occupants, heeded her warning and then decided that Yeul must have caused the attack for her own amusement. They were wary of anything they did not understand and blamed the person that had helped them. The man now yards away from her also believed that she was the cause of the attack and vowed to kill her to avenge the deaths of his daughter and people.

Yeul could yell for Caius and not let the vision of her death come to pass but that would cause more problems. Another painful vision showed the girl that after her death, her murderer would be hailed a hero and eventually be given leadership of the city. Under his guidance, the city would rebuilt stronger and end up more prosperous than before. Paranoid of the repercussions of killing the Seeress, her murderer would have his people become powerful warriors so they would be ready for the next attack that he believed would come. His warriors would save the lives of many people in the neighboring villages and cities as their leader would always be willing to give aid to those who needed it.

If Yeul tried to avoid her fate then this would not happen. Most likely, her own village would be attacked in retaliation by the city's people to get at her. There was already a large group of men and women headed this way, hungry for misguided revenge. Even if she left, they would likely still attack the village fueled by anger and wanting to lash out at anything. The group would only turn back after meeting the man who killed her on his own way back home. Running would only end with destruction of her home and people so she would not do it.

Though she knew her death was coming in just a few more moments, Yeul did not cry for herself but instead for her Guardian. Yeul had ordered him not to interfere when she was to die and so he would not. Once again, he would endure her death only to see it happen to her reincarnation years from now. Letting a single tear fall from her eyes, Yeul did not turn as she heard the sound of booted feet behind her and embraced her fate.

* * *

Appearing after the murderer fled with his blood soaked spear, Caius Ballad knelt and gently picked up the warm, blood-covered body of the child he wished he could have protected. Her eyes were closed and her blood quickly covered his hands and began to drip to the ground. Her killer had made sure to pierce her heart, maybe afraid of what he thought the Seeress could do if he gave her time to react. Yeul's death had thankfully been quick. There had been times when this had not been the case.

Every death hit Caius as hard as the first did, or maybe even more than the first. He no longer held any love for the Goddess as it was she who cursed Yeul. His charge was re-born only to die before she could live to adulthood. Yeul was at times feared, hated and even hunted by the people of Gran Pulse because of Etro's so-called 'gifts'. More of the world's people feared her than loved her. All she did was try to help and all they did in return was hurt her.

Caius hated the Goddess after seeing Yeul die dozens of times. But even so, he still held hope that one day She would take back her misguided 'gifts'. He hoped that one day his charge would be able to live a life free of the cursed Eyes of Etro, misunderstandings of the people and that the Heart of Chaos would no longer be needed. He wanted freedom for them both.

He knew Yeul hoped this as well but always accepted her fate and did not try to fight it. Instead it was him that harbored thoughts of defying the visions but was dissuaded by the child he considered his daughter in every reincarnation. Yeul did not believe that extending her life was worth the pain it would inevitably cause. She did not want anyone to suffer because of her.

It was agony to watch the child he helped raise be die over and over. Her deaths were most often caused by the visions and sometimes by accidents, monsters and humans. In some reincarnations he was her only companion, the parents of the girl abandoning her once they found out about her visions. They would think her a witch, a demon, or a curse on their family. In other reincarnations he visited her often while she lived with a family that loved or at least tolerated her.

The only creature truly responsible for Yeul's suffering and deaths was the damned Goddess. Caius longed to find a way to seek vengeance on the Goddess and somehow save Yeul from the pain caused by the cycle of rebirth. If this cycle did not end then one day he knew he would do everything in his power to save Yeul even without her consent. He didn't think he could take seeing her constant sadness and pain any longer.

Not letting his sorrow take over yet, Caius disappeared to lay the body in his arms to rest. In about 9 months, he would meet her again.

* * *

 _I posted this on an old ffnet account I forgot about some years ago. I recently found some of my old unpublished FFXIII stuff and remembered about that account as well. I'm going to put this collection on my new account and maybe post some of the rest of the old stuff I wrote. I haven't played FFXIII in ages so I'm not even sure what I got right or wrong in the fics anymore. For anyone curious, my old account was SilverWinterMoonWolf._


	2. Alone

**Alone**

Alone. Caius Ballad was completely and utterly alone. He finally accepted the fact that there was no one else left in this world. His world for Yeul. He had won and was left in a place devoid of any other human life but his own.

Instead of creating a perfect world, Caius had been left with a world of his nightmares. A world where he would be forever alone and never know the fate of Yeul, whether she was finally at rest or still suffering somewhere he could not reach her.

* * *

At first, Caius was overjoyed to have triumphed over his rival and have the Heart of Chaos destroyed. He believed the merging of the worlds would finally end both his and Yeul's pain but that had not been the case. After the worlds merged, he remembered being consumed by the Chaos and then waking up in the middle of a city. A search yielded nothing but empty buildings.

Yeul was not here and neither was anyone else.

He was puzzled that he had found no one and set off to look for Yeul in the other cities. He traveled across the new world, realizing it was made up of four continents, but found nothing but monsters. He thought a year passed, maybe two, in the time he spent searching but there was no sign of Yeul, or anyone else at all.

Caius then began to look for someone, anyone so that he could prove that he was not alone.

But he found no one.

* * *

He refused to accept that he could have been wrong in his methods to save his charge and searched harder, forgoing sleep in order to search longer. No place, save one, had been left undisturbed from his presence. Caius began to look through the same places multiple times, thinking he could have missed someone if they had traveled from place to place like he was.

Many more years passed and he had found no trace of human life. He grew angry and destroyed empty buildings, tore apart monsters in rage and screamed to the heavens for someone to be here so he was not alone.

But there was no one.

* * *

There was one place he had not searched. One place that he would not search. At least not yet. The place was once the home of the Goddess and Caius refused to step foot in the building devoted to Her.

The temple of Etro still stood proud and hauntingly beautiful in this new world. When Caius realized what he had done, the temple became a mocking reminder of his sins. It was his fault that he was in this situation and would now suffer for killing the Goddess.

One day Caius would enter the temple and he wondered what he would find there. Was the Goddess's Champion still trapped in crystal on Her throne? The thought of seeing another human, even trapped in crystal, filled the man with hope and longing. Even if she could not speak or move, Caius would no longer be alone.

But if he entered and saw that the throne was empty then he would lose his last bit of hope and likely his sanity soon enough. Right now the belief that Lightning Farron was trapped in crystal on the throne kept him from true despair.

Today would not be the day he entered the temple so Caius once again began his futile search of the world.


	3. Soldier

**Soldier**

"Damn it!" Lightning Farron cried out in frustration as she punched the wall nearest her. Oh how she wished that wall was Snow's face. The stupid lug had convinced her sister that Lightning needed to be 'cheered up'. They had attempted to make her breakfast this morning but had gotten distracted with each other. The 'cheering up' had resulted in a fire in the kitchen, the electricity turning off and Lightning almost being late for duty. She had just made it to work after running from the train station.

"What's gotten into you sergeant? You look like you want to tear someone apart!" Came an amused voice from behind her.

Lightning closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down before turning around to see her commander, Amodar.

"I apologize for that little display, sir. I just can't stand my sisters imbecilic boyfriend."

"Ah, the monster hunting Snow. He's not so bad I guess. A little dense though."

"More like very, I doubt there is even a brain in that thick skull of his for it to protect." She growled out.

"Harsh! Well, for his sake, I hope Snow doesn't bother you anymore. Anyway, report to the courtyard for drills in 20 mins. You can take out some of your frustration on the new recruits." He winked at her.

"Yes sir."

Lightning watched her tutor walk away. As she was about to turn away, she saw someone that didn't belong in the Guardian Corps headquarters. Had someone brought their daughter to work?

There was a young girl dressed in odd beaded clothing with light silver-blue hair. She was standing near the front desk and looking a little lost. Surprisingly, the brigadier general himself, Cid Raines, was talking to her. As soon as he noticed her, he smiled and motioned for her to come over.

"Ah good thing you are here Lightning, I need you to do me a favor. I found this child wandering outside and she seems to have been separated from her brother. She does not know his number and I was hoping you could help. I would like you to find him as I am unable. I must attend a meeting with Dysley in a few minutes."

"Sir, with all due respect I'm a soldier not a babysitter."

"I understand but she says that she would be more comfortable with a woman rather than a man. Fortunately or unfortunately, you are the only one here at the moment." He smiled at her. "It will not take long at all, I hope. I will let Amodar know that you will be busy today, if you would be willing to do this for me?"

Lightning sighed and nodded her head. Maybe she could vent some anger on whoever lost their sister. It was pretty irresponsible.

"Thank you Lightning. The girl's name is Yeul and I very much doubt the she will cause you any trouble. I must be going now but I do hope you can find her brother." He gave her a smile that would cause any almost any other female but Lightning to swoon before leaving. She watched him walk away before turning to face the child.

The girl had wandered off towards the window and was looking across the city in awe. "Hey kid!" She seemed startled and turned around. Her eyes were silver, clear and looking almost ancient.

"I'm to help you find your brother. Do you know where he is?"

"I don't know. I was separated from him when I was in the city... It's so big..."

Damn it, the woman thought. This was gonna take longer than she wanted.

"Well is there anyplace you think he might search for you?"

"The fountain. The big one covered in flowers. I told him I wanted to sit there forever and listen to the sound of water.

"Well then. Let's go." Lightning briskly walked forward toward the entrance of the compound. The girl followed.

"My name is Yeul." The girl spoke after following the older woman for a few moments.

"... Lightning." The soldier replied.

* * *

The bright afternoon sun shone down as they walked out and down the steps in front the the Guardian Corps base. The female soldier noticed that Yeul was having a hard time keeping up. She slowed her pace to accommodate her.

As they reached their destination, Lightning noticed some odd things about the girl. She wondered if the girl had been raised indoors her entire life. She seemed fascinated with the most mundane of things, asking questions that should have been obvious.

At first Lightning would only reply with a word or a short phrase but then ended up describing things in detail, seeing as she had the time.

"Is this the place?" Lightning asked the girl when she brought her to the fountain. There were several in the city but this was the prettiest.

"Yes, yes it is! It's so beautiful and it reminds me of home!" The girl cried happily.

"Alright then, let's see if your brother will show then." Yeul seemed startled at her words but quickly nodded her head.

They both ended up waiting together and sitting on the edge of the fountain. The statue of the Primarch offered comfortable shade. Yeul sat savoring an ice cream like she had never had it before. Lightning had bought it on an impulse as Yeul was very little trouble and almost... Cute.

The Fal'cie sun shone down on the city as they waited, Yeul pointing and asking questions about pretty much everything and Lightning answering in a few words but sometimes in detail.

"Yeul!" A deep masculine voice called the young girl's name. Lightning frowned at the even more oddly dressed brother. Was that some sort of purple armor he was wearing? "Where have you been? I asked you to stay here."

"I am sorry Caius, I was distracted and then got lost. But the people here and Lightning-" Here she pointed at the young soldier. "-helped me. They were so kind."

"Well, I am thankful you are alright. Come, we must be gone soon."

"Very well." Yeul turned the the soldier. "Thank you Lightning, I enjoyed the time I spent with you."

"I guess a thank you is in order for helping my charge. Though your help was unnecessary I am grateful." Caius's words and tone had the soldier bristling in her anger.

"You might want to take better care of her in the future. It's irresponsible for you to leave such a young girl unattended." Lightning snapped, not liking the man's almost condescending tone.

"And you might want to mind your own business, soldier. You know nothing of what I have done to protect her-"

"Caius, stop it. She has done nothing but help me, please don't get angry." The man glared at Lightning a moment and then turned back to the girl.

"Come Yeul, we need to leave now that our errand has been completed."

"Yes." Yeul turned to Lightning. "I am glad I was able to meet you and I am very thankful for your help."

"You're welcome, kid. Hopefully your idiot of brother doesn't lose you again." Lightning said as she glared at the purple clad man. The young girl smiled as her 'brother' glared back. Yuel waved before following Caius as he began to walk away. She turned around one last time to see the pink haired soldier heading back the way she came. Yeul smiled sadly, she knew that soon the soldier would face many hardships and sorrows. She would overcome them only to be thrust into even worse trials. It was yet to be seen if she would be able to fix what would happen in the future, but she hoped she would be able to.

"I wish you luck, Claire."

"Hmm? What is it?" Caius asked.

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself." He looked back at her a moment and shrugged his shoulders. Together they entered an alley and disappeared in a haze of black.

* * *

 _This was one of the old one I wrote but never published. I have a few others that I might post eventually._


End file.
